DELAWARE NOTEBOOK

By Celia Cohen
Grapevine Political Writer

"Delaware Notebook" is a collection of noteworthy
items around the state. This edition takes a look at an
unusual concentration of executive lines of succession
and a politician's latest filing -- not for office, but
for bankruptcy.

Tony DeLuca, the scrappy president pro tem of the
state Senate, probably came as close as he ever will to
becoming the governor.

The cause was the massing of political power in
Brandywine Hundred last week for the funeral of Jean
Biden, the mother of the vice president and the
grandmother of the state attorney general.

Gov. Jack Markell attended. So did Lt. Gov. Matt Denn
and Secretary of State Jeff Bullock. It goes without
saying that Beau Biden, the attorney general, was there.

It meant the officials who are supposed to step up if
something happens to the governor were all at the same
place at the same time. The order of succession is
spelled out in the Delaware Constitution -- first the
lieutenant governor, then the secretary of state, then
the attorney general.

Next comes the Senate president pro tem. That would
be DeLuca. He did not go to the funeral, which coincided
with the opening day of the General Assembly's 2010
session.

DeLuca is an electrician by trade. The most executive
experience he has is his administrative job in the state
Labor Department.

Great extremes were available to keep DeLuca from
moving to Woodburn. So much Secret Service and police
force converged on the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic
Church, it would be a wonder if there was an uneaten
doughnut left in New Castle County.

The show of security, of course, was for the other
line of succession in attendance -- President Barack
Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The presidency goes next to the secretary of state.
Although Bill Clinton went to the funeral, Hillary
Clinton was traveling, so she missed it.

President Clinton? Governor DeLuca? The country seems
so much better off.

# # #

Filing is what politicians do. They file for office.
They file campaign finance reports. In the legislature
they file bills. One politician just shook up the
routine with a filing that could give the willies to the
rest of them, though.

John Brady filed for bankruptcy.

Brady is the Sussex County recorder of deeds. He ran
for insurance commissioner in 2008, outpolled every
other Republican statewide candidate not named Mike
Castle and still got clobbered. After the election, he
switched his registration to Democrat.

Joe Biden called Brady from the vice president's
office to welcome him. From there, it got worse.

The law firm of Brady Beauregard & Chasanov, where
Brady practiced, dissolved. Brady was setting up a solo
office in Lewes when he had surgery for heart trouble,
followed by pneumonia, and hardly worked from July to
October. His county salary of $22,000 a year did not go
far.

He had a campaign debt of $10,600 he owed to the
Rogers Sign Co. in Milton. When it came for the money,
Brady was pushed into bankruptcy court earlier this
month.

Candidates, particularly if they are lawyers,
typically protect themselves from personal liability by
incorporating their campaigns, but Brady did not.

"My campaign was not incorporated. It's a lesson to
other candidates," he said.

Rogers Sign is the firm of Lynn Rogers, who used to
be a Sussex County Democratic councilman. No one there
was willing to talk about Brady's bankruptcy.

Brady filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case, which wipes
out debts, but he said it will be changed to Chapter 13,
which arranges for repayment for all or part of the
debts.

"I'll continue to do the best I can," he said.

Brady also has plans for another filing -- for
re-election to his county office this year. Not that he
was particularly cheered by thoughts of that filing,
either.

"It's going to be a tough year for incumbents and a
tough year for Democrats," he said.

It could make Brady the only candidate to be hit by
both a Democratic tide and a Republican backwash. Some
distinction.